Maddie

It's that Rockstar lifestyle of mine lol, I'm a Buddhist baby! 😎

Yes I'm sure forsaking all possessions becoming celibate and begging for one meal a day is a great way to become rich LOL

I've been baffled today with the various negative responses to Buddhism. I've never had this much negativity to it in my life! I even had one person think that was I said about Buddhism was so outrageous that they no longer wish to speak to me. Pretty extreme but also weird lol. Today was weird.

You don't cook much do you? lol *recipe -10 points from Gryffindor.

Exactly. Why try to reinvent the wheel when its already been done?

The teachings of a Buddha are already in our world though, but of course you can do what you wish :-).

The Buddha said it is technically possible to figure it out by one's self (Pacceka Buddha) but very difficult and unlikely.

How would people know what the heck they were doing, or that there even was an enlightenment to attain to?

The Buddha said that enlightenment is realization of the four noble truths is what causes enlightenment. At least that is the Buddha's definition.

The first two parts of the eight fold path as taught by the Buddha are "Right View" and "Right understanding". The eight fold path is what the Buddha said to do to become enlightened. A correct understanding is vital.

Forgive my ignorance as I don't really understand a lot about Daoism, but is escaping Samsara part of it?

What on earth did I walk into? lol

Knowing suffering leads to less suffering Knowing delusion leads to less delusion Knowing bitterness leads to less bitterness These things will lead to enlightenment

Maybe so because very little of that book makes sense to me.

I would have not guessed in a million years this topic would get so many people so upset lol

It's called keeping focus on the point of the conversation and not being diverted from it by "whataboutism".

1. As to why. Because it causes suffering. 2. As to dealing with it directly. The Buddha said mindfulness is the direct path to dealing with this directly.

I think the thing that has surprised me isn't that the topic has drifted from the original post, this is an internet forum after all, these things happen all the time. The thing that has surprised me the most is that a relatively straight forward and rational topic of something that is basically cause and effect has become so controversial on a forum that is dedicated to topic such as this.

Words are tricky. But I feel like saying "enlightenment" is easier than saying "once one reaches the state where they have completely seen through all delusion and thusly let go of the craving and aversion that come from it, and therefore have ended suffering lol.

I see. This is my understanding as well, and the reason for that is because as I apply these teachings I see a reduction in suffering. The Buddha said if you apply his teachings you will see a reduction in suffering. This gives me confidence that he knows what he's talking about. Since applying what he has taught has worked so far it gives me reasonable confidence that it is correct and encourages me to continue to apply what the Buddha taught. In regards to conversation, isn't that exactly what we are doing? Aren't we having a conversation about the teachings?

What better method would you propose then? Since I am personally not enlightened and therefore in delusion it is necessary for me to grasp onto the teachings of someone that escaped delusion. If I ever reach Nirvana then I suppose I will be qualified to teach from my personal point of view, but until then I study the teachings of the Buddha. If you know a better method I'd be eager to hear it.

I guess I'll try one last time to explain this in the most clinically objective and totally non-emotional way possible. In Buddhism there are what are called the "three poisons", Delusion, Desire, and Aversion. These are some of the most BASIC teachings of Buddhism. So for example if someone gets angry, that is one of the three poisons that cause suffering. The Buddha described the cause of anger (or any other type of aversion or craving) as being a result of not seeing things as they really are, or aka delusion. This is just simple Buddhism. This is not emotional. This is just a fact that the Buddha taught.

So you don't want me to discuss Buddhism anymore? But isn't this a forum for such things to be discussed? I've honestly been surprised at the amount of emotional reaction to analyzing the Buddha's teaching on the false sense of self and how it leads to suffering because to me it was a glorious revelation that has drastically improved my quality of life.

In my time on this forum there's been lots of petty squabbles so I guess this is an accurate sample of reflections on this forum LOL.

The ego AKA The false sense of self is an impermanent delusion according to the Buddha. It's just a fact it's not necessary to get upset over the fact.